Archives

Categories

Archive for the ‘Hexies’ Category

I like things organized. At least when the creative part of a project is over and the “get ‘er dun” part is taking place.

When I am working on a new quilt I screw around with bits and pieces testing what I see in my imagination and once I am satisfied I flip over the the “Type A” part of me and break it all down to the fast and most efficient way to progress.

So I decided on Saturday night I was far enough into the “Hexie Quilt Project” to fall in love with it completely and thus it was time to devise a plan to bring it to completion. I have a time table in the head…as always. I work best with self imposed deadlines.

This is what the final tally is in regards to pieces needed for the quilt:

Border Flowers : 42

Green Fillers : 80

Inner Pieced Flowers: 95

Odd Ball Flowers shapes : approximately 12-14 flowers total

I counted up what I had done randomly and I was just about halfway there.

I went into full pieced Hexie production on Sunday Morning. And by Sunday late afternoon I had all the pieces cut, stripe sewn in, and ready for English Paper Piecing. The same with the Border Flowers. And the filler Hexies were done. I would leave the “odd balls” to the very last to be able to play with color placement when it came to them.

I took my sketch of the finished quilt and divided it into 8 sections. And not all sections are created equal. Some are much bigger than others. Trust me there is a method to my madness…when I feel a lull encroaching on this project I will put together a small section and viola the motivation to keep moving on.

Now I need to divide all the Hexie Flowers I have done and the cut flowers (but not done) so I can guarantee that fabrics and colors flow nicely across the quilt.

With masking tape, I divided the counter in the back of my studio into 8 sections.

Then I put a note in each section with it’s assigned number and the numbers of each items (Border Flowers, Green Fillers, Inner Flowers) that is needed for completion.

The shuffling of flowers around took less than 10 minutes.

And lo and behold one of the smaller sections (#6) already has all the pieces needed completed…it can be put together immediately if I wished.

I elected to save it for one of the “lull periods” and am tackling section #5. I hope to have a few sections done for you by next week….that is the plan.

p.s. Please note that the last pic is actually only about half the “items” laid out…just realized I forgot to take a final pic…but I think you get the idea.

I hope you are all fine. I have been thinking about the blog these last few weeks and finally decided it’s time to bring it back.

You might note that all the past entries are gone…and for this I apologize. But it was either archive the old posts only to my computer so I could start fresh or start an entire brand new blog. And since I love the name of this blog, I wanted to keep it.

I have learned a few new tricks and cataloging is one so this will be a very organized blog that will make locating past info extremely easy….I hope.

So a brief update for some of my long time readers (and I do hope a few of you find your way back).

P&E are now Juniors at Hendrix…and the talk of plans after graduation have begun. Looks like graduate school is on the agenda for them both…and this makes us very proud parents.

They are out of the dorms now and sharing an apartment. Emily is loving having her own kitchen and is cooking up a storm much to her brother’s delight.

We are enjoying being “empty nesters” and have fallen into a very nice routine although the house is very quiet at times. I sure wish they would hurry up and invent the “Jeanie Transport” as I call it so I could just blink my eyes and pop up for a few minutes to hug them both on campus. I know they would love that…lol.

I traveled quite a bit in the last six months and just finished up my last “on an airplane gig” for the year. I am doing some teaching locally but the load is very light. This gives me some time to explore and create. And I have hit the ground running.

A few months ago as I was ordering supplies for kits I added a pack of English Paper Piecing Hexagons to the virtual shopping cart. You may better know these as “Hexies” and from now on this is how I will refer to them.

Bonnie K. Hunter is a very good friend of mind and she has been working on a “hexie quilt” while on the road for a couple of years now. In January we taught together at the Road to California and I got a glimpse of her spectacular quilt…and I was in “hook, line, and sinker”.

The only problem is I just didn’t have time to start this project, so on the back burner it went. And then I ordered the Hexie Papers and they sat and fermented.

And last week I finally put together a travel kit of some hexies and fabric squares and hit the road to Oklahoma.

Let’s just say all that “fermenting” was dangerous because by the time I was whip stitching my second flower together I was dreaming up all kinds of designs for the Hexies….using a technique I am calling “Pieced Hexies”.

These are just some (yes the word OBSESSION has been thrown around) of the Hexie flowers I have completed in the last week. These wild flowers will make up the border of the pattern I have designed.

The center will be made up of “Pieced Hexies”.

Yes…this quilt is going to take awhile…with a total of about 150 flowers needed for completion…but after all I have a very quiet house now…and full control of the TV remote. And they are like potato chips…I just can’t seem to stop.

p.s. YES..there is going to be a workshop…and a pattern… several of you have already inquired from my Facebook posts. Thank you for your interest. 🙂

So signing off for now. I am thinking 2-3 blog posts a week will be the average. After all life is a bit slower around here with just the two of us.